Greetings!
Our first National Park visit for this year did not disappoint. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in southern West Virginia and the New River Gorge National Park & Preserve, one of the country's newer parks designated in 2020. We spent 5 nights so we were able to really explore the area. We stayed at Little Beaver State Park and had a beautiful campsite that was peaceful and pretty private.
The park boundaries surround the New River so it's about 53 miles top to bottom - here is a map to give you an idea. Our campground was positioned south of Grandview about 10 miles.
We explored the park in 4 days - the first day we went to Grandview, the next two we spent time in the northern end of the park closest to the bridge (the most popular area) near Canyon Rim and the last day we spent at Sandstone Falls (south).
Grandview is just that - one of the most beautiful overlooks of the Gorge itself in the southern part of the park. It's a very short walk to the overlook. We hiked the Grandview Rim which was relatively flat and went along the edge providing sweeping views throughout. The hike ended in Turkey Spur, which was this enormous rock formation that you could walk to the top (via stairs) and enjoy more incredible views.
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| Our first view of the Gorge - wow! |
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| Great hike - trails are well maintained. |
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| In parking lot area near Turkey Spur |
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| Climbing down from the top of Turkey Spur |
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| On the way back we saw a Doe and her fawn |
The second day we headed to the Canyon Rim area and enjoyed the highlight of our visit - the Bridge Walk. We had booked this a few months ago and it was so cool. The New River Gorge Bridge was completed in 1977 and it reduced a 45-minute drive down narrow mountain roads and across one of North America's oldest rivers to less than a minute drive. The bridge itself is 3,030 feet long; the arch is 1,700 feet long and the roadway is 876 feet above the river - two Statues of Liberty and One Washington Monument can fit under the bridge with about 20 feet to spare! This bridge is one of the highest bridges in the United States and the longest single-span arch bridge in the western hemisphere. Although the bridge may look old, its rusted appearance is intentional. The "COR-TEN B" steel rusts over time to prevent the need for painting and to increase its resistance to corrosion.
I've included many photos as it was just one of the coolest things we did. I suppose if you have a fear of heights, it would have been a little nerve-wracking, but many safety precautions are taken - harnesses that are tethered to cables, etc. Essentially, you are walking across a catwalk with railings on either side under the bridge itself. The traffic does cause it to shake a little bit, which is what it's supposed to do, but you get used to it! When you are walking along, the views are so impressive, but not nearly as amazing as the structural engineering of the bridge - you really appreciate the experts who bring these architectural feats to life. The tour departs from their offices - which are very close. You take a bus to the starting point (the NP visitor center), walk across, and then they pick you up on the other side and bring you back (when doing so, you drive across the bridge that you just walked under!).
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| Before the walk, we went to the overlook at the NP visitor center. |
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| Paul ready to go! |
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| Jen ready to go too! |
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| You walk down to the entrance underneath, which is locked and was opened by our guide Rocky (and then re-locked once we were all on the bridge) |
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| Just getting started |
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| Paul took a lot of photos with his GoPro which provides a great wide angle perspective. |
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| Crossing the actual river |
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| We could see people white water rafting below |
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| There were 13 of us total on the trek (plus the guide). |
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| The tether Paul is hanging on to is attached to a cable across the bridge, which is attached to your harness - it felt very safe. |
After the Bridge Walk, we headed to Fayetteville (close by) - a cool little town that has blossomed with the popularity of the park and the bridge. After lunch, we did the Endless Wall hike which was beautiful and provided sweeping views of the Gorge and the bridge in the distance. When we got to the overlook, we ran into another couple who were also on the Bridge Walk.
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| The endless wall is to the left of us and you can see how it continues across the top of the mountain. |
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| You can barely see the bridge in the background |
We really loved this area of the park and the next day returned to the same area so we could do more hiking. The Superintendent of the State Park campground we stayed at - Jayson - gave us a great tip to walk up to Mount Beauty and it was a short hike, but again, lead us to some memorable views. This trail wasn't crowded as it is not part of the National park trail system and it lived up to its name.
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| Lots of rhododendron groves on this hike. |
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| Lovely views! |
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There were a group of highschoolers doing some rock climbing in this area and one of the guides must have had a dog - he was pretty happy in his spot in the shade!
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We then went back to Fayetteville and enjoyed lunch at another great restaurant. After lunch, we enjoyed the Fayette Station road scenic drive, which is the original road from one side of the gorge to the other before the bridge was built. It was so interesting and for the first time, we were on the gorge floor looking up at the bridge.
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| This is the original bridge people drove across |
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| We enjoyed watching the white water rafting boats from this shorter bridge. |
After the scenic drive, we hiked the Long Point Trail, which was a beautiful trail and had the most amazing views of the bridge! It was on the other side of the river where we had hiked before.
Our final day in the park, we headed to Sandstone falls - which is on the southern end. It was a pretty spot, but not nearly as dramatic as what we had seen in the other areas of the park. It was close to Hinton, a cool historic town, where we had lunch.
After lunch, we headed to the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine, a historic museum all about the coal mining industry. It was fascinating, especially as it's such a huge part of West Virginia's cultural history. Part of the experience was going down into the mine for a 35-minute tour which was lead by our guide Gerald who was a retired coal miner. He did an amazing job explaining how coal is mined - such hard, backbreaking work. We learned so much and had a great appreciation for all of those people who worked in the mines.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in West Virginia - beautiful country and lovely people. We are now in Shenandoah National Park and we will post on our experience here soon.
Thank you so much for following along and for your love and support - Love, Jen & Paul
